Edelweiss
by Squarepeg72
Summary: Written for Roll-A-Prompt 2018 in Hermione's Haven FB group. Neville never understood why a small flower keep appearing in his life. Until he found an answer he was not ready for in the stacks of the library at Hogwarts.


Pairing: Hermione/Neville

Trope: Soulmates

Music: It Was Always You by Maroon 5, Always by Bon Jovi, Sitting, Waiting, Wishing by Jack Johnson, Waiting for Love by Avicii

* * *

Neville grew up hearing stories about edelweiss, but he never expected it to make so many decisions for him.

His childhood had been filled with stories involving the small, white flower. Some of the first stories he remembered were tales of his Gramps apparating into the Alps to pick edelweiss for his Gran when they were dating, as well as her wedding bouquet. Family tradition said that a Longbottom was expected to find an edelweiss plant on his eighteenth birthday and wish upon its star-shaped flowers for a path to their soulmate. He had never seen his Gran blush until the day he asked about the edelweiss tattoo he had found on his grandfather's hand when he was looking through some family photographs. She never did explain why it was there, but Neville just figured it was a memory she did not want to talk about.

When Neville was sixteen, his Gran asked him to study plants of the Alps as a part of his Herbology studies. He didn't ask why, even though he wanted to. He had discovered the Edelweiss tattoo on the left hand of almost every male in his family. It took several passes through the family photo albums before he noticed the similarity between the markings. He wanted to ask Gran why it only showed up in pictures after people were bonded, but he never could shake the way she had blushed and changed the subject the first time he asked. One of her favorite saying was "Life is full of mysteries that are best discovered instead of explained." So he added edelweiss to the list of plants he would research for their benefits to magical and muggle alike.

The library at Hogwarts was beginning to feel more like his home than his dorm room. He spent almost every free moment either there or in the greenhouses with Professor Sprout. She had encouraged him to look through the Herbology sections of the library for information on the plants of the Alps. He didn't think there were _that_ many books. He had found interesting magical and medical uses for lots of the plants he had heard his Gran mutter about. But, one plant was still a mystery. Edelweiss. It was everywhere he looked when he looked around his history. However, it was nowhere when he looked through the never ending stacks in the library. Maybe he should start looking beyond the Herbology section.

He never thought he would find the first answers to his quest in the Legends section. He had gotten frustrated with his search in the Herbology section and owled Gran for suggestions on where to look next. Her reply had simply been "Have you ever heard the story of the Ice Queen of the Alps?"

Her typical, cryptic response had lead him to ask the librarian if there were any books on ice queens. She raised an eyebrow, put her finger to her lips and then pointed towards the west wing of the library. He lowered his head and trudged towards the stacks. He hoped this was not the beginning of another fruitless search.

The skin on his left hand began to tingle as he ran his fingers along the shelves. He had entered this set of stacks because the end was marked with pictograms that looked like mountains. All his other methods of choosing staring places had been dead ends so he was willing to try anything. The tingling seemed to get stronger as he touched the books on the shelves. He stopped when he noticed faint lines appearing on his hand. Reaching for the book in front of him, Neville was surprised by the title "Legendary Snow Flowers." A small spark of hope began to glow in his mind. Maybe, this book would not be a dead end. He removed the book from the shelf carefully and looked for a quiet table. He need a place to spread out and really dive into the book.

Neville took over a small table at the end of the row where he found the book. His hand had stopped tingling, but the lines under the skin were showing no signs of fading. With is favorite quill in his hand and his Herbology notebook under his hand, he began to read. The first thing he found was the scientific information he had been searching for. " _ **Leontopodium nivale**_ _, commonly called_ _ **edelweiss**_ _, is a well-known mountain flower, belonging to the daisy or sunflower family, Asteracae. The plant prefers rocky limestone places at about 1,800–3,000 metres (5,900–9,800 ft) altitude. It is non-toxic, and has been used in traditional medicine or folk medicine as a remedy against abdominal and respiratory diseases. The dense hair appears to be an adaptation to high altitudes, protecting the plant from cold, aridity, and ultraviolet radiation. As a scarce, short-lived flower found in remote mountain areas, the plant has been used as a symbol for alpinism, for rugged beauty and purity associated with the Alps and Carpathians, and as a national symbol, especially of Romainia, Austria, Bulgaria, Slovenia, and Switzerland."_ He scribbled the information into his notebook as he continued to read. Gran's reason for pushing him to research this flower was starting to make sense. For the most part.

It was when he got to the legends that his hand began to tingle again. " _According to folk tradition, giving this flower to a loved one is a promise of dedication."_ An image of the tattoo on his father's hand floated through his memory as he read that sentence for the fourth or fifth time. He scratched at the faint lines on his hand, trying to get them to stop tingling. He was distracted from his hand by a voice. "I know that book was on the shelf yesterday. No one is ever taking books from these shelves."

The voice seemed familiar, but he did not have time to be distracted by his hand or that voice. He needed to find out more about edelweiss. As soon as he had the answers from this book, he was going to owl Gran. There was more to the family tattoo and he needed to know. But, that was only going to happen if his hand stopped tingling. Something about the voice was familiar. The more the thought about the voice, the more his hand tingled. And, now, the lines were darker. Gran had a lot of explaining to do.

"I know that book was here last night. It has the Ice Queen legend that I need for Trelawny's essay and I am not going to get a bad mark because someone didn't put the book back where it belongs." The voice was coming closer and Neville's hand was starting to hurt. Why was this happening? It was like the stupid book and his hand were trying to tell him something. He just had no clue what it was. Neville decided to concentrate on the text in front of him and hope that the tingling would stop.

"Oh! Hello, Neville." Hermione's voice startled Neville. "Have you seen a book called Legendary Snow Flowers? I need it for some of my research?"

Neville's voice choose that moment to abandon him. He simply nodded and pointed to the book he was reading. Hermione raised an eyebrow and began to scratch the back of her right hand. "Are you okay, Neville? You look a little pale." Hermione reached out to touch his hand. "What's that?"

Neville took a deep breath and tried to reply. All that came out of his mouth was a squeek. Talking another deep breath, he tried again. "I'm not sure. I can't seem to get my hand to stop itching." He tapped the book he was reading. "I think this is the book you are looking for. I was researching edelweiss." Neville felt like a fool as he stuttered through his answer to his questions. He looked down at his hand and froze.

"Did you know edelweiss is considered a sign of love and devotion?" Hermione asked as she continued to rub the back of her hand. "In some countries, it is considered to be a symbol of love and devotion. I have found legends that say it appears when soulmates meet."

Hermione continued to talk as he stared at her hand. There was an edelweiss flower slowly appearing on her hand where she had been rubbing. "That book has an origin story for the flower. Let me show you."

Neville continued to stare as Hermione reached past him to turn the pages of the book in front of him. "Here it is: _As the story goes, high in the Alps lived a hauntingly beautiful queen with a heart of pure ice. The queen's melodious singing lured many forlorn shepherds to her cave. Since her frozen heart was unable to love, she soon tired of them and ordered her loyal gnome slaves to throw the hapless men to their deaths. One day an ordinary shepherd found his way to her cave and the queen fell in love with him. The jealous gnomes, fearing their mistress would marry this mortal and abandon them, threw him into a valley where his heart was crushed. When she learned of the tragedy, her heart melted enough for her to shed one tear. That tear became an Edelweiss."_

The room was loosing air. Neville could not breathe. There was no way she was his soulmate. He was not ready for that. He was not ready for anything. He needed to talk to Gran right now. "Umm. Thanks, Hermione." How was he going to get out of here? His brain finally decided to join the conversation again. " I've got to send an owl to Gran. I'd better run. Can you put the book back for me?"

"Sure? Are you sure you are alright, Neville." Hermione watched as Neville shoved papers and quills into his satchel. "You are looking pale. What's that on your hand?"

"Nothing…a birthmark, Yes, a birthmark," Neville tried to tug his hand from her grasp as she looked closer at the hand she now held captive.

"It's an edelweiss bloom, isn't it?" Hermione gasped as Neville managed his escape. "Neville, wait!"

Hermione seemed glued to the floor as Neville quickly walked away from her. "I have questions. Where are you going?"

"To get answers." Neville voice drifted back to her from the stacks. "I hope."

Hermione sank into the nearest chair and stared into the darkness created by the stacks around her. "Why? Who ever said magic was easy was telling stories," she whispered to the space around her. "Birthmark, my wand. Neville's Gran had better have a good answer for him because these books are not helping."

Hermione looked down at the flower blooming on her hand and smiled. "Maybe, it wouldn't be so bad to be bonded to a quiet man."


End file.
